My Friend’s A Gris-Kwok Read online

  Alex and I pushed and heaved at Polly the elephant, but she would not move.

  “When I count to three, really push,” Alex gasped as we leaned against Polly. “OK. One! Two …”

  I was busy listening for Alex to say “three”, which was my big mistake. Just after he said “two”, Polly stood up and moved away while Alex and I were still leaning against her. We grabbed each other and tried to keep from falling, but … CRASH!

  We both fell off the sofa and onto the ground!

  I bashed both my knees and got a mouth full of carpet fluff. It’s hard to say who was more annoyed – me or Alex. Polly was really getting on my nerves now.

  “Polly! Polly, put that down!” Alex rushed over to his sister, who had just picked up the fruit bowl off the dining table with her trunk.

  Alex tried to get the bowl away from her, but Polly waved her trunk in the air above his head.

  I went over to help. We jumped up and down, up and down, but Polly’s trunk was too high above us.

  “Polly, don’t drop that or you’ll smash it!” Alex ordered. “Give it to me.”

  Polly did as Alex said. She gave it to him all right! She tipped all the fruit in the bowl on his head.

  “Oww!” While Alex rubbed his sore head, Polly started to do something that made me back away from her.

  “Alex …” I began.

  Polly was sucking up lots of peanuts from a dish on the table with her trunk. I had a horrible feeling … and I was right!

  Polly started to fire the peanuts at her brother and me. They smacked! They stung! They smarted! They hurt! I ran for cover, with Alex close behind me.

  “I came round for some fun, not to be shot at with peanuts!” I moaned.

  Alex and I popped our heads up from behind the armchair. Polly started to trot towards us.

  “Don’t take another step,” Alex commanded. But Polly just ignored him.

  “Why don’t you change us into something else?” I said to Alex. “Change us into mice. I read somewhere that elephants are scared of mice.”

  “I can’t,” Alex said. “I can only change three times a day, and I’ve used them all up.”

  “But you were only a fly and a cat,” I said. “That’s two.”

  “No, I was a fly two times,” Alex said. “Remember?”

  “So what are we going to do?” I asked.

  Polly the elephant was only a few steps away from us now. We backed away out of the room as she came closer and closer.

  “Polly, I’m warning you …” But Alex didn’t finish what he was going to say.

  By now we were out in the hall, and Polly was still trotting towards us. She was halfway through the door when it happened!

  She got stuck! Well and truly stuck.

  She wiggled and jiggled, but she couldn’t move backwards, forwards or sideways.

  “Serves you right, Polly,” Alex said.

  “Yeah! A double dose of serves you right with toffee sauce on top!” I added.

  Just at that moment, we heard a key in the front door.

  “Mum! Mum’s back!” Alex panicked.

  But just as the door opened, Polly changed back into her “normal” self. Alex scooped her up into his arms.

  “Hi, Mum,” he panted.

  “Hello, Mummy!” Polly said. She stuck her thumb in her mouth and began to suck on it.

  I couldn’t believe it. She looked like a little angel in Alex’s arms – as if she’d never do anything even a little bit naughty.

  “Hello, everyone!” Alex’s mum smiled. “Alex, has Polly been good?”

  “She hasn’t been any trouble at all, has she, Mike?” Alex said to me.

  “No, Mrs Lessing,” I said. “She’s been really good.” I crossed my fingers behind my back.

  “Give her to me,” Alex’s mum said. “It’s time for her nap.”

  “Happy to.” Alex handed his sister over. “Let’s go over to your house, Mike.” Then he said, under his breath, “Come on before Mum explodes when she sees all the fruit and peanuts on the carpet.”

  “My house will be boring after all this,” I said as Alex’s mum went upstairs with Polly.

  “That’s why I want to go over there,” said Alex. “If your roof is hit by lightning and wild horses run into your kitchen, it will still be more relaxing than this place!”

  And you know something? He was right!

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  COPYRIGHT

  First published in 2022 in Great Britain by

  Barrington Stoke Ltd

  18 Walker Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7LP

  This ebook edition first published in 2022

  www.barringtonstoke.co.uk

  This story was first published in a different form as

  My Friend’s a Gris-Quok (Scholastic, 1994)

  This edition based on My Friend’s a Gris-Kwok

  (Barrington Stoke, 2013)

  Text © 2013 & 2022 Oneta Malorie Blackman

  Illustrations © 2013 Andy Rowland

  The moral right of Oneta Malorie Blackman and Andy Rowland to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in any part in any form without the written permission of the publisher

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available

  from the British Library upon request

  eISBN: 978–1–80090–226–8

 

 

  Malorie Blackman, My Friend’s A Gris-Kwok

 

 

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